


Planting

by bladespark



Series: Uncanny Flower (Thanatos, Achilles, and Patroclus) [1]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Bottom Achilles (Hades Video Game), Eldritch Thanatos, Intersex Achilles, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Nereid Achilles, Oral Sex, The Eldritch Chthonics, Top Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:48:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bladespark/pseuds/bladespark
Summary: Thanatos is nervous. He loves Zagreus, but though he's experienced in his Chthonic form, all tentacles and wings and eyes, his experiences with a more human body are limited. To Ares. Who's probably not typical of what a lover wants. So he approaches Achilles for advice about what to do, neither of them expecting how that encounter will resolve.
Relationships: Achilles/Thanatos (Hades Video Game)
Series: Uncanny Flower (Thanatos, Achilles, and Patroclus) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2203800
Comments: 12
Kudos: 55





	Planting

**Author's Note:**

> I've used the "intersex Achilles" tag, as I know at least one other author does too, but in this specific case he's not intersex in the human sense, but in the half-nereid sense. :3 It's similar, though. Just, er, probably with more eggs if he ever got with another nereid or something, I don't know.
> 
> Anyhow! This is mostly a prelude to other stories where the weirder things will have more impact, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

“Achilles? Could I have a moment to speak with you?”

Achilles refocused his eyes from the vague, distant stare of a guard to the figure standing beside him in the hall. “Lord Thanatos. Of course.”

“There’s no need to be so formal,” said Thanatos, tucking one foot behind the other as he floated and tapping the fingers of his gauntlet against his scythe’s handle. 

The floating put him just above Achilles in height, but on the ground he was a bare few inches shorter. Of course it didn’t seem all that long ago that he’d barely come up to Achilles’ waist. It was very strange. As far as Achilles could tell Thanatos had been a child—a god, and Death Incarnate with all that entailed—but still a child, up until not long after Achilles himself had arrived here in the House of Hades. He’d then grown up across some unmeasurable amount of time, entirely due to keeping up with his best friend Zagreus.

So now he seemed a young adult, and a solemn, even terrifying one to boot, with his dark hooded chiton and ornate armor, his impossibly large scythe, his clawed gauntlet and of course his tendency to hover silently. It was a miracle Achilles hadn’t jumped out of his skin when Thanatos first spoke.

And then he went and fidgeted like a nervous boy about to be scolded by his tutor, and all Achilles could do was remember all the times he’d helped sort out trouble for the quartet of peculiar young gods who’d grown up in the House while he served there.

“Thanatos, then. What is it you’d like to discuss?”

“Can we talk…in private?” Thanatos threw a glance over his shoulder, though there was no one there. “Somebody around here has a bad habit of eavesdropping.”

Achilles chuckled, knowing immediately that Thanatos meant Prince Zagreus, who did indeed tend to listen around corners when given the chance. “Is it urgent? Because if it can wait until after my shift, I’d be happy to invite you to my room.”

Thanatos shifted, switching which foot was behind the other, and tapped at his scythe a few times, then nodded. “It can wait.”

“Another two candle-marks, then,” said Achilles.

“Thank you,” said Thanatos, and vanished with a little “ _pop!_ ” and a flash of green light. Achilles was well used to that by now, thankfully.

When his shift ended, he went directly back to his room. It was a small, modest sort of space. He hadn’t wanted anything more. A lavish suite seemed ridiculous for his situation. He was one man, a servant, and dead. What did he need with luxury? It had a bed, a table and chair, a few chests with this or that in them, a set of shelves, mostly empty but with a few books and scrolls stored there. That sufficed, and more than.

He’d had a few of the godlings in and out of it, over the years. He hadn’t meant to become mentor to the little gaggle of young deities, but Hades was…difficult, Nyx was distant, and once Zagreus had decided he was alright, the rest had immediately followed. Zagreus was very much the unofficial leader of the bunch.

Though Thanatos and Achilles had already been something like close even before Achilles had begun to train Zagreus. The moments when Thanatos turned up for advice had become increasingly rare over the years, but were common enough that Achilles didn’t feel too intimidated about having Death Incarnate come knocking.

Still, he made an effort to tidy a few things away, and to pull out the chair and set it near the bed, so Thanatos would have somewhere to sit if he could be coaxed down from floating.

Achilles had only just finished that, and pulled off his cloak to hang it up, when there was a soft, polite tapping at the door. He opened it and found Thanatos there, floating at least an forearms’ length off the ground. That meant he was nervous about something. As if the fidgeting earlier hadn’t been a clue. Still, at least he wasn’t floating so high he had to duck to come in the door when Achilles invited him in.

“Have a seat, why don’t you?” he offered, taking his own on the bed.

Thanatos did the odd little thing that sometimes happened where he sat down and _then_ stopped floating, so he dropped a few inches into the chair. He started at the drop, and flushed, cheeks turning bright gold. He didn’t have his scythe with him, but he still wore his gauntlet. Achilles hadn’t seen him without it since he first got it, about the time he’d seemed to arrive at being an adult rather than a youth. Thanatos immediately started fiddling with it, tapping the metal fingers against each other.

“So, what did you want to discuss?”

“It’s…about Zagreus. Sort of. I don’t know. About…” He paused and huffed, as if annoyed. “This shouldn’t be so hard to say.”

“Take your time. I’ve got all eternity.” Achilles smiled.

Thanatos smiled too at that, some of the tension going out of him. “You know that he and I… That is, he’s been, well, courting me, I suppose you might say.”

“I had noticed, yes.” Achilles had indeed, and had noticed too that Zagreus was courting Megaera the fury, and for that matter had made something of a pass at Achilles himself. He wondered if he should mention that.

“He’s…” Thanatos shook his head and fidgeted some more. “He’s infuriating sometimes. The pure nonsense of starting to court myself, and Megaera as well, when he’s also so dead set on leaving… Tch. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that I can’t help but like the idiot.” Thanatos heaved a deep sigh, one that Achilles found familiar. The sigh of someone giving in to utter folly. “I told him I needed time, but it’s not time I need. I know what I want. What I don’t know is, well… How, exactly to best, ah…”

Not wanting to make any assumptions about what Thanatos might or might not know, Achilles waited patiently for the god of death to spit it out.

Thanatos cleared his throat. “Look, it’s that, well, the only experience I have is either, ah, in my Chthonic form, or my, er, relationship with Ares.”

Achilles blinked at Thanatos. “You, and Lord Ares?”

Thanatos was blushed golden-bronze over his entire face now as he nodded. “Yes. But the Chthonic way of it isn’t even actually sex, it’s…” He waved his hands, as if trying to shape something in the air. “It’s too different. And Ares is… uhm…”

“He’s Ares, yes. Not that I know or want to know what he’s like in bed. But you’re concerned about being too inexperienced for Zagreus?”

“Yes! Do you know what his libido is like?” Thanatos was still blushing furiously. “He doesn’t tell me, and I don’t ask, but I am absolutely certain he’s bedded half the underworld at this point! I know for certain about Megaera, and that there’s some shade out there he really likes. But I’ve heard enough things in passing to think there’s quite a few more he’s with sometimes. Meanwhile I… I have trouble not ending up with wings or claws or extra eyes in the middle of things, still, and I have absolutely no idea what even constitutes the usual thing during sexual encounters. I suspect Ares isn’t usual, but I don’t know what is!” Thanatos looked down at his hands and ran the fingers of the bare one, with their black-enameled nails, over the gauntleted one. “And there’s at least one other thing. I’m not normal. I don’t just mean my other forms. I don’t know… He might be horrified. He hasn’t seen… Nobody but Ares has ever seen… I thought, since you know him so well. I can’t think clearly about this. I can’t do anything but be afraid of how he’ll react when he sees.”

Achilles had a strong urge to reach out and put a comforting hand on Thanatos’ arm. He knew, though, that sudden physical contact tended to spook the god of death. “You know that Zagreus is a kind person. I don’t think he’d react cruelly, no matter what you did.”

“I…” Thanatos swallowed. “Even if he was kind about it, it would still sting if he was horrified, or even if he thought it was…ugly. I don’t want to have to…” Thanatos made a hissing sound of frustration and said, “Look, I’ll just show you. You’ve been good about my being different before. I… Here.” He yanked the gauntlet off of his hand, and Achilles blinked in surprise as that revealed white bone beneath it. From a few inches below the elbow Thanatos’ arm and hand were entirely skeletal, with no trace of muscle or tendon. The hand still moved as naturally as if it had been alive, but had to be doing so by some uncanny power, as it ought to have been dead and useless.

“There.”

Achilles almost wanted to laugh. In a household where skulls were considered ordinary decor, Death Incarnate was worried the Prince of Hell would find a skeletal hand off-putting. “No, Thanatos, lad. He’s not going to mind that. To be honest, he’s an open-minded and adventurous sort, so he probably wouldn’t mind if you tried doing whatever it is you do in your other form, too. It’s not like the lad hasn’t seen that. So truly I don’t think you need to worry.”

Thanatos let out a huff of disbelief. “I hope you’re right.”

“I’m sure I am.” Achilles finally gave into the urge and lightly set his hand on Thanatos’ arm. Thanatos twitched but didn’t jump, and didn’t move to pull away either. Achilles settled his hand more firmly and squeezed gently. “I’m also sure Zagreus won’t mind if he has to teach you what he likes.”

Thanatos huffed again, frustration and worry both rolled into the sound. “I just wish that I had some experience with somebody who wasn’t Chthonic other than Ares. I wish… I wish love and affection were easy for me, the way they are for Zagreus.” Nervousness turned suddenly to brooding. Thanatos hunched up, his head turned down, gaze entirely in his lap, on the white bone clicking there as he ticked his fingertips together. “It took me literal eons to say something to Ares, and I loved him more or less all my life. Zagreus is easier, since he’s so determined to chase me. No one else ever has, though, in all those centuries. Who would love Death?”

He turned his hand over, flexing and spreading the fingers, then suddenly grabbed up the gauntlet and slid it back on, hiding the bare bone away again.

Achilles felt a strange shiver go through him, an echo of memory. He’d said that once. Who would love a half-human thing like he? Who would love a demi-god and prince for his own strange self and not merely for power? But Patroclus had been there to answer the question for him, there beside the pond in the woods below Chiron’s cave, where Achilles had so often dared to let Pat see what else he was, besides human.

Zagreus might answer the question for Thanatos, if he were here, but he was not.

Achilles was here, though. He wasn’t sure love was the word for it, exactly, but he’d been deeply fond of Thanatos since their earliest encounters. He’d been a charming child, and the adult he’d grown into, well… Certainly lying with the beautiful young man sitting before him would be no hardship.

So Achilles put his hand back on Thanatos’ arm and said, gently, “There are some who might.”

“Oh? I suppose you can name a dozen?” Thanatos’ voice was bitter.

“No, but I can name one.”

Thanatos’ head whipped up, and his odd, pale golden eyes met Achilles’ nearly as pale blue. “…what do you mean?”

“I can name myself. I can’t quite call it love, but I like you a great deal. I’ve bedded people I liked much less, truth be told. I don’t think you need more experience, Thanatos. I don’t want to offer to teach you. Every lover is different, so I couldn’t teach you how to lie with Zagreus any more than Ares could. But I’d be more than pleased if I found you wanted me.”

Thanatos’ eyes were wide, staring at Achilles with something like shock. “Y-you? But…”

Achilles waited patiently, but began to rub his thumb back and forth across Thanatos’ cool skin in a slow caress as he did.

Thanatos swallowed. “But aren’t you… I mean… You have a lover. Don’t mortals usually have just the one?”

Achilles looked away for a moment. “I do have a lover, yes. Patroclus, if he loves me still, which sometimes I doubt. I was not terribly worthy of his love. But…” He looked back at Thanatos. “We shared our bed often, in life. We were not the sort to be jealous of other loves. I let Zagreus think that, but it’s not true. Zagreus is…difficult.”

Thanatos’ mouth quirked in a small, wry smile. “That is an understatement.”

“I like him too, but he’s been my charge for so long, and he keeps approaching me as a student, with ‘sir’ on his lips. I’m not the sort to take charge like that. Pat was, I suspect they’d get along well. But not me. I had too much of leading men in battle. In bed was where I always wanted to be led.”

Thanatos had a suddenly thoughtful expression on his face. “And you say Zagreus is like that too?”

Achilles nodded. “As best I can tell, what with my having turned him down.”

“Huh. Perhaps I have more relevant experience than I thought.”

Achilles almost asked the question suddenly burning on his lips. Thanatos seemed to be implying that Ares, the violent, bloody god of war, was submissive to the shy, quiet Thanatos, god of peaceful death. But then if he, Achilles, known for killing countless warriors single-handedly, could be, why not that bastard Ares too?

With a shake of his head that couldn’t quite shake that thought out, Achilles took his hand back from Thanatos’ arm. “If you don’t feel you need my help any further, that’s fine,” he said with a smile.

Thanatos looked at him for a long moment, brows furrowed. “I… I suppose I probably don’t need your help, no. Need and want, though, are two different things. You really do…desire me?”

Achilles felt his cheeks flush as he nodded. “Yes. You are beautiful.” He dared to lean closer, to reach out and cup Thanatos’ face in his hand.

Thanatos put his hand over Achilles’, capturing it. He turned his head, pressed a kiss to the palm, and said, “Thank you.” Then he added, “And you mean it, about preferring to submit in bed?”

Mutely Achilles nodded.

Thanatos smiled, and there was a sudden intensity in his eyes. He still had Achilles’ hand held in his, against his face. He turned again, kissed once more, then shifted and bit sharply, over his wrist, just at the pulse-point. Achilles gasped, the gesture sending a jolt of startled arousal through him. Gods, what had he just gotten himself into?

Thanatos let Achilles’ hand go, and instead fixed his eyes on Achilles, a hungry look in them. “Can I command you then? Can I hurt you?”

Achilles nodded again, his heart pounding in his chest. “Yes.”

Thanatos licked his lips. “Then… Then I will. Stand, and disrobe.”

Achilles swallowed hard, but said, “Yes, Lord Thanatos,” and stood. He fumbled embarrassingly at the straps of his bracers before getting them off. His fingers were trembling, but he stilled them enough to remove his armor. He’d already taken off his cloak, so only his long, belted chiton remained, and that was easily removed, leaving him entirely naked. Finally, he plucked the circlet from his hair and looked back at Thanatos.

Thanatos was still staring at him hungrily. He looked Achilles up and down, then slid his chair back to make room and pointed at his feet. “Kneel.”

Achilles dropped to his knees on the floor, glad of the rug there, though he would have obeyed even if it had been cold stone.

Thanatos made an odd sound, a little “huh” as if he hadn’t believed Achilles would actually obey. “You… You must tell me if I do or ask anything you don’t want.”

“Of course, my Lord Thanatos,” said Achilles, bowing his head, letting his hair fall around his face.

Thanatos stood, and began removing his own clothing and armor. As he did, he said, “Would you worship me, if I told you to, Achilles?”

“Y-yes, Lord Thanatos.” Achilles bent lower, putting his hands flat on the floor. A thrill went through him at his own act of submission. Gods, how long had it been since he’d done anything like this? An eternity, surely. Not since his mortal life, not since Patroclus.

The thought of his love’s name was a stab of sorrow, as always, but he knew Patroclus would be glad to see him find such pleasure. He often had before, after all, on the terribly rare occasions when they’d brought someone to their bed who had the knack for dominance. Watching Achilles service someone else had always been one of Pat’s favorite things.

Achilles felt the cold, sharp touch of Thanatos’ gauntleted hand under his chin, and let his head be tilted up. He saw that Thanatos had finished stripping, and couldn’t help but admire him. Thanatos was lean and muscular, every bit the ideally chiseled god, and Achilles drank the sight in. The hand not cupping Achilles’ chin was curled around Thanatos’ cock, the shaft already hard, blushed bronze-gold. Achilles found his eyes coming to rest on it, and was more than pleased when Thanatos said, “I think you should attend to this now.”

“Happily, my Lord,” murmured Achilles, rising higher on his knees and leaning forward to nuzzle at it. Thanatos removed his own hand, and slid the other up to work the hard metal of it through Achilles’ hair, which made him shiver as the clawed fingers tugged and pulled. He brought up his own hand, to curl it around the cool shaft, and opened his mouth to lap at its head. The action was familiar, though it was odd, the way Thanatos was so cold. Achilles himself was warm still, though he was dead, but it seemed that Death, though he might be technically alive, was cold as the grave.

He didn’t mind it, though. The taste of Thanatos’ cock was good on Achilles’ tongue, tasting of salt and musk like any man’s, but with a hint of something almost floral, like incense. And the groan that Thanatos let out as Achilles lapped at it was gratifying.

It spurred him on to do more, so he opened his mouth and took the head of Thanatos’ cock into it.

“Ah… Very good,” said Thanatos. He shifted his hand, clawed metal now cupping the back of Achilles’ head, though not pushing down, not yet.

Achilles moaned around Thanatos’ cock, sinking down deeper, until he’d taken the whole of it. Thanatos let out another low moan of his own, which delighted Achilles. He swallowed around Thanatos’ cock, letting his throat squeeze and caress it. He stayed down for a long moment, enjoying the way Thanatos’ cock filled his mouth and pushed into his throat, enjoying the taste and even the odd coolness of it. Finally, though, he slid back to tongue and suck at the head. He worked the tip of his tongue over the sweet spot just beneath the head, seeking to give Thanatos as much pleasure as he could. Gods, he loved doing this. He always had, even when there was nothing more than physical pleasure behind it. Doing it for someone he cared for though, someone he genuinely wanted to please, was wonderful.

Thanatos tightened his hand in Achilles’ hair and pushed down insistently. Achilles didn’t resist, he only moaned as Thanatos’ cock filled his throat again. He put his hands against Thanatos’ thighs, as if to anchor himself, and worked his tongue along the length of it as he swallowed around the tip, even more thrilled than he’d been moments ago.

Thanatos held him down for a long, long moment, not even relenting when Achilles made his first abortive move to pull back and get a breath. Achilles shuddered at that, but stayed. He could hold his breath longer than most, though right now nowhere near as long as he could under other circumstances. After just a moment longer, though, Thanatos pulled back roughly, yanking Achilles off of his cock. Achilles gaped in a breath, trembling, and glanced up at Thanatos.

“You are very good at that. But I want more. I want to take you.”

Achilles couldn’t help the tremor of need that ran through him, his own cock, hard now too, twitching at the thought. “Yes, my Lord. Please, my Lord.”

“In the bed, then,” said Thanatos.

Achilles swallowed and nodded, moving to obey. He climbed into his narrow bed and stretched himself out on his back. His heart was pounding hard again, mostly in desire, but with a thread of nervousness that always came when he took a new lover. Would Thanatos be pleased by the way Achilles was, or dismayed?

Thanatos’ eyes swept over Achilles’ body, but he might not have noticed yet. A small cock was considered ideal among many Greeks, and Achilles was meant to be an ideal, after all. Yet the fact that he had no balls hanging heavy below, and what else there was instead… Had Thanatos seen? What did he think of it? 

He knew worrying that the sort of being Thanatos was, not even remotely human, would care about Achilles’ exact shape was even more foolish than Thanatos’ own concern about his hand. Yet of course nervousness was never so easily dismissed. Still, Achilles pushed the thought aside as best he could. He was here to obey, that was all.

Thanatos rested a knee on the edge of the bed and reached out, the cool touch of his living hand running over Achilles’ skin. Thanatos traced across his shoulders, down his chest, over his hips, and along his thighs, stroking over the firm, solid muscles of a warrior, but then dipped inward, running up, and at last arrived at Achilles’ cock, tracing over every inch of it as Thanatos let out a soft hum. “Would it be rude of me to ask about…this?” he said, running his fingers up the short length of it, then down the underside.

Achilles flushed, trying not to tremble, and not entirely succeeding. “I… You know my mother was a Nereid?” At Thanatos’ nod he continued. “Nereids are, well… Do you know about seahorses?”

“The males bear, yes?” said Thanatos.

Achilles nodded. “I’m…halfway. Part human male. Part Nereid. So… That.”

“I see.” Thanatos curled his hand around Achilles’ cock, enveloping it completely, making Achilles gasp. After a few strokes Thanatos let go, dragging his fingers down it to where Achilles had a slit tucked beneath it. It wasn’t obvious if you weren’t looking, but with his legs spread out for Thanatos, it was impossible to miss. Thanatos slipped a finger within, sliding it in easily with how wet Achilles was, and Achilles gasped again, a shudder going through him.

“Hmm. You seem…interested. May I?”

“Y-yes, my Lord,” breathed Achilles.

“Good boy,” said Thanatos, smiling.

Achilles wanted to whine in pleasure, but instead he bit his lip hard, then gasped again as Thanatos pressed two fingers into him, sinking them deep, curling and twisting them, exploring within him. “Ah… Gods, my Lord…”

“Yes, I think you’re more than ready,” murmured Thanatos. Achilles managed to focus on his face, and found that Thanatos was flushed again, his expression eager. He knelt between Achilles’ legs, positioning himself, his hand on his own cock as he lined it up against Achilles’ entrance.

Achilles reached up, grasping Thanatos’ shoulders. “Ah… Yes, my Lord. Please…”

Thanatos groaned and began to push in, filling Achilles so wonderfully that he couldn’t help but lift his hips to it with a low moan.

Thanatos sank in slow but eager, continuing until he was thrust in deep, making Achilles moan again as he bottomed out. Achilles couldn’t find any words for the pleasure and need rushing through him, but he gasped out a breathless, “Please, Lord,” and Thanatos responded, pulling back and then thrusting in hard and fast, making Achilles cry out. Thanatos did it again, and again, poised over Achilles, eyes nearly closed, hips moving steadily.

Achilles dug his nails into Thanatos’ shoulders, clinging tightly, starting to lose himself in it. He lifted his legs, wrapping them around Thanatos’ waist, his muscular thighs clenching tightly. Thanatos gasped and drove down into him even harder, meeting each lift of Achilles’ hips with a nearly violent thrust, growling as he grabbed Achilles’ shoulders and used that grip to brace himself. His gauntlet’s claws dug into Achilles’ skin, sending an additional thrill of pain through him.

“Ah… Ha… Oh, gods…” Achilles couldn’t keep from gasping and moaning and crying out. Thanatos’ thrusts filled him with pleasure that blended into pain in the best way, and each one also let Achilles’ own cock feel the cool pressure of Thanatos’ body against it for a wonderful moment, the two sensations threatening to overwhelm him completely. He clenched hard on Thanatos’ cock in him, crying out repeatedly, trembling on the edge.

“Yes,” growled Thanatos, his eyes shut, breathing hard as he moved over Achilles, pace growing ever faster. “Don’t hold back…”

Achilles tensed harder, feeling his pleasure starting to crest, and let out a high, wordless cry of utter bliss as he came hard. A spurt of thick seed came from his cock, while his inner walls clenched and pulsed around Thanatos.

“Oh!” The death god’s gasping exclamation was almost surprised, and with a few more thrusts he came too. Achilles moaned at the sensation, a flood of cool wetness deep within him, then gasped as he felt a second set of claws suddenly digging in where Thanatos gripped his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find that Thanatos had suddenly acquired a pair of wings, black-feathered and sheened with rainbow highlights, and the bare hand that gripped him was now dark-scaled and clawed, like a crow’s or raven’s foot.

Achilles only smiled as he began to relax under Thanatos, basking happily in the afterglow. He stroked his hands down Thanatos’ back, brushing along the bases of his wings, feeling smooth, cool skin and soft feathers. He’d seen all this before, though admittedly not often, and wouldn’t have minded any of it even if he _wasn’t_ feeling wonderful about absolutely everything just now. Thanatos blinked several times, his eyes coming back into focus, then going wide and centering on his hand. “Blood and darkness, I’m sorry,” he said, and changed his hand back. He tried to pull away from Achilles, but Achilles wrapped his arms around Thanatos’ waist, under the wings, and held him.

“Nothing to be sorry of,” Achilles said warmly.

His attempt to hold on resulted in a brief flapping of wings, followed by a half-voiced whimper of frustration before those vanished too.

“Shh, it’s fine,” soothed Achilles, keeping his hold, and Thanatos dropped his head, sighing against Achilles’ shoulder.

“I can’t even keep my shape, half the time,” he muttered. “Like being a child again.”

“There’s no shame in it. Few people have full control of themselves in such a moment.”

“Few people sprout claws and leave bloody marks on their lover,” said Thanatos sourly.

“I refuse to let you fret over that, my Lord. I did say you could hurt me, after all.” Achilles turned his head and nuzzled at Thanatos’ ear.

“Heh.” Thanatos’ tone was almost amused. “I’m not sure that’s how service and worship are supposed to go… But I injured you when I didn’t mean to.”

“As if I haven’t bled before,” said Achilles, smiling and nipping Thanatos’ earlobe. “Which will be ten times as true of Zagreus, you know. He’s not going to object.”

“I…hope not.”

“Shh, relax. We both enjoyed ourselves. It’s fine, truly.”

Thanatos made a wordless sound that was still at least half disagreement, but he didn’t try to pull away again.

Achilles continued to gently nuzzle and caress Thanatos. Thanatos slowly relaxed, and eventually nuzzled against him as well, shifting to press a soft kiss to Achilles’ lips.

“Thank you,” he said. Then he sighed and pulled back. This time Achilles let him go. “Unfortunately, duty calls.”

“I understand. And… Thank you too, my Lord. It has been a very long time since, well, since I’ve lain with anyone, truly.”

Thanatos climbed out of the bed, but paused and gave Achilles a curious look, then smiled. “I’m glad you were pleased. Perhaps, well… However things go with Zagreus, perhaps we can do this again? If you’re interested?”

“It would be my pleasure, my Lord.” Achilles sat up, smiling.

Thanatos stepped in and softly, almost shyly, gave Achilles a kiss. “I really do have to go now, though.”

“Of course.” Achilles rummaged under the bed for a rag while Thanatos pulled his clothing back on. As Thanatos finished, Achilles caught his hand, then kissed the back of it. “I meant it when I said I want to do this again though. I wasn’t just saying that.”

Thanatos’s eyes went wide, and he hesitated a moment, then bent and kissed the top of Achilles’ head. “You are better than I deserve, I think. But thank you. I do want that, yes.”

“I’m just a dead, washed-up former hero,” said Achilles with an almost sad smile, not even for his own inadequacy, but for how Thanatos could think he didn’t deserve absolutely everything. “And you are a wonderful, kind, and amazing person, however strange you may also be. Recall I’m a bit odd myself. So yes, please, my Lord. Hopefully soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to see me talk about writing, my works in progress, other creative endeavors, and my life in general, check out [my Dreamwidth blog](https://bladespark.dreamwidth.org/) or my [twitter](https://twitter.com/bladespark). I also now run a [multiship, adults-only, kink-friendly Hades server](https://discord.gg/zSUcd9s5rt). Feel free to join!


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